During choosing a CO2 laser engraving and cutting machine, a lot of people will be confused by what type of laser tube to choose if the seller offered two types of laser tube. Metal RF laser tube and glass laser tube.
Metal RF Laser Tube vs Glass Laser Tube - What is a Metal RF laser tube?
A lot of people will take it granted, it cuts metals! Well, if you expected it would cut metal, you’ll be disappointed. A metal RF laser tube only means that the chamber is made of metal. The gas mixture sealed inside is still CO2 gas. CO2 laser tube normally used for processing non-metal materials. Although, the RF laser tube still got a lot of advantages compared with Glass tube.
Metal RF Laser Tube vs Glass Laser Tube - 4 advantages of Metal RF laser tube compared with glass tube
First, the metal RF laser tube got a very thin beam compared with Glass laser tube. The typical beam diameter of the RF laser is 0.2mm, after focus, it can be 0.02mm whereas the beam diameter of glass tube is 0.6mm, 0.04mm after focused. Thinner beam means better engraving quality. You could get a higher resolution for photo engraving. Also, the cutting seam is thinner when cutting.Hmm, looked better even if you do not care about the tiny bits of materials wasted.
Second, the metal RF laser tube react much more faster. If your machine speed is slow, that does not matter at all. Normally, if the moving speed is over 1200mm/sec, the glass laser tube can’t follow up. It is the limitation of its reaction, if over this speed, you’ll find most of the details of the engraving will be missed. The maximum speed of most of the Chinese laser engravers are under this speed. Normally 300mm/sec. But some faster machines like AEON MIRA, AEON Super NOVA, they can go 2000mm/sec with 5G acceleration speed. The glass tube will not engrave at all. These kind of faster machine will have to install RF laser tube.
Thirdly, The RF laser tube got a longer life span than a DC powered glass tube. Go backwards 5 years, most of the glass tube produced only rated 2000 hours life span. Nowadays, the high quality life span of a glass tube can be over 10000hours. But it is still shorter compared with RF laser tube. The typical RF laser tube can last 20000hours more. And, after that, you could refill the gas to get another 20000hours.
Lastly, The design of RF metal lasers is compact, durable, and contains integrated air cooling. It is not easy to be broken during transportation. And will not need attach a chiller for the machine.
A lot of people will ask, why I can’t see many RF laser tubes installed on a laser cutter? Since it got so many advantages compared with glass tube. Why it can’t go popular? Well, there is a big disadvantage for the RF laser tube. The high price. Especially for the high power RF laser tube. The single RF laser tube will buy a whole laser cutting machine! Is there any way that I can get a fast better engraving and a high power cutting on a laser machine with a lower cost? There is, you could go to AEON Laser Super NOVA. They built in one small RF laser tube and a high power DC powered glass tube inside the machine, which you could engrave with the RF laser tube and cut with the high power glass tube, perfectly dropped down the cost. If you are too lazy, Here is a link of this machine: Super Nova10， Super Nova14， Super Nova16.
Metal RF & Glass DC in Super Nova
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Post time: Jan-12-2022